New data segmentation now allows CHD Expert’s customers to identify restaurants that have been open for less than 30 days, and those restaurants that have yet to open their doors to guests.

CHD Expert, the Chicago-based foodservice database and analytics firm is announcing the expansion of their operator filter suite in two new and exciting areas; businesses that have just recently opened, and those who have plans to open in the near future. These two new segments will provide critical insight to companies that sell to restaurants, as they will be able to use the data to contact decision makers in the critical process of outfitting their establishments and looking to build lasting relationships with food suppliers. The two segments will be available in March 2014.

Currently, CHD Expert’s Foodservice Industry Database (FIND) offers data at an industry-leading level of accuracy on over six million global operators, providing contact information that can be segmented and filtered by various criteria. The two new segments will be joining an already robust list of available criteria that includes location, units, menu type, revenue, average check, number of employees, and many other pertinent details.

This March, CHD Expert customers in select USA markets will be able to quickly identify two types of restaurants and other foodservice kitchens not previously possible – those with recently opened doors, and those who are scheduled to open in the near future. The segments will be broken down into two specific areas: New Business and Pre-Open. These two new filter options will join all the current age-related filters, which identify restaurants that have been open for less than one year, one to two years, two to five years, and five plus years.

The New Business segment will classify operators who have opened within the past 30 days. Imagine the possibilities this information can provide to CHD Expert customers, who will now be able to identify recently opened restaurants in their selected geography. Companies who focus on selling advertising, POS systems, or other digital services will be able to use this data to target prospects that have yet to solidify these necessary relationships, or who are ready to enhance their current operations. Specialty providers can use this data to target and sell their products to restaurants that may not have an identified provider at open, or after an initial experience with one, now want to change quickly.

The Pre-Open segment will recognize operators who have plans to open in the near future. This information will be highly desirable for any foodservice distributor or manufacturer who sells to restaurants or commercial kitchens. Vendors will now be able to strategically offer their goods to restaurants that are in the process of purchasing equipment and food products to outfit their establishment.

“Foodservice distributors, equipment manufacturers, and food manufactures have been requesting pre opening data for years,” said Brad Bloom, Director of Sales at CHD Expert North America. “Being able to connect with a restaurant or foodservice establishments while they are outfitting their kitchen and looking for suppliers while menu planning is the Holy Grail for sales professionals who sell to the foodservice industry. We now have this information available for our customers, and we are excited to see how this data positively affects their sales results.”

To learn more about CHD Expert’s foodservice database, or to learn more about CHD Expert’s latest restaurant data segments, please click the button below:

At CHD Expert, we not only provide data to our clients, but sometimes we get the change to work with magazines and other news outlets. Most recently, we got the chance to work with Mark Scott, Senior Associate Editor at Smart Business Magazine and provided him with restaurant data for the city of Chicago. In this month’s edition of Uniquely Chicago, Mark writes about how Chicago shouldn’t only be recognized for it’s pizza, but for it’s diverse food scene as well. Click the image of the article below to read the full story and to learn about the restaurant landscape in Chicago.

Uniquely Chicago – Restaurants, A Slice of Life

If you are a journalist looking for restaurant or foodservice data, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to help you complete your story or provide you with data on the foodservice or restaurant industry. Email us at cathy@chd-expert.com.

When was the last time you traveled. Did you happen to remember that the airport’s food options have been significantly upgraded to gourmet or healthier fare? Travelers will soon no longer have an excuse to eat junk food when traveling. According to a panel of doctors, at the nation’s 18 busiest airports, 76% of restaurants offer at least one healthy entree. This is up since 2001 when only 57% of airports offered travelers at least one healthy item on the menu. See how the different airports rank on health options per the chart below.

This news is good for the 100 millions of travelers that pass through airport terminals on a regular basis. With more and more individuals searching for healthier options, it’s only right that airport restaurants continue to offer passengers a variety of nutritious options. Let’s talk about one airport in particular that we think excels in healthy options for travelers. JetBlue’s Terminal 5 at JFK does a great job of offering a wide variety of restaurants and healthy food options. For example, they have a food court with a salad bar option in addition to several restaurants through out the terminal, one of which is sushi bar called Deep Blue Sushi which has a robust menu of fresh choices created by NYC’s Buddakan Executive Chef Michael Schulson. JetBlue continues to push the envelope on overall “terminal” experience, and providing diverse food options is one of areas in which they excel, especially when it comes to offering healthier options. JetBlue has 24 total food and beverage outlets offering travelers a variety of places to choose from.

As people continue with the New Year’s Resolutions, healthy options will continue to be an important factor in where people choose to dine in airports, especially for frequent business travelers. Airports, foodservice companies and restaurants should consider how the healthier trend can impact their business.

Do you have questions about airport locations? Or are you looking for a list of airports addresses or airport data? Send us an email with your questions and we’ll get back to you within a few hours. Email us at cathy@chd-expert.com.

The foodservice industry is all about trends. Trends can have a significant impact on a foodservice business. Today’s consumers are more interested than ever in the foods they eat, where they eat, and where their food comes from. True trends, as opposed to fads, shows the need in our society and how foodservice industries meet those demands.

How would you like a glass of wine as you look around for a new pair of shoes? Well, the next big thing in food could be fashion. There is a growing trend of retail stores in the US developing their own themed restaurants within their store. A perfect example of this is Tommy Bahama’s New York flagship restaurant that sells rib-eyes and fish tacos. Another great example of this is David Burke’s Burke in the Box and Forty Carrots at Bloomingdales.

So what’s the value of putting a restaurant into a store? Restaurateurs want to keep shoppers in their stores for as long as they can and giving shoppers the ability to drink and eat can increases the time they spend in the store. The more time spent in the store; the more likely a purchase will be made.

More Restaurants Using Tablets

Restaurants are embracing technology and the use of tablets is just another example of that. Earlier this week Applebee’s announced plans to install 100,000 tablets at every table in each of its 1,860 restaurants in the United States. These tablets will allow Applebee’s customers the ability to order food, pay their bill, and play games as they wait for their food. Back in September, Chili’s announced they would also begin installing tablets on each table of its 823 restaurants by March 2014.

While this move may seem like the beginning of the end for servers, don’t be alarmed. The restaurant business is about speed and service. Restaurants make more money when their servers are quick, and they get their customers out the door happy. The devices are for interactive purposes and convenience, targeting groups and families who wouldn’t mind paying $0.99 to play games. In fact, services could expect to see an increase in tips as the system is implemented to increase the spending per table and customers will benefit from better service as servers wont have many tasks on their plate.

Goodbye Trans Fats

Say goodbye to margarine because artificial trans fat in food will soon be a thing of the past. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its preliminary determination saying trans fat is not “generally recognized as safe” for food. If this preliminary determination is finalized, hydrogenated oils (a component of margarine) will become food additives that could not be used in food without approval. Any food with unapproved additive cannot legally be sold in the U.S.

If you are looking to find accurate and up-to-date data on full service restaurants, retail stores, or information on restaurants that offer a specific cuisine, CHD Expert can help you locate those businesses and get you contact information for key decision makers. If you would like more information on how to access CHD Expert’s database, please contact Catherine Kearns via email at cathy@chd-expert.com or call (312) 768-6916.

Chicago-based foodservice database, marketing, and analytics firm, CHD Expert unveils its latest innovation in foodservice data, The Restaurant Chain Locator. The new Restaurant Chain Locator tool is part of CHD Expert’s interactive online database platform that provides restaurant chains and foodservice providers with new ways to evaluate the foodservice market landscape. This tool identifies the chain operator landscape and density, and can postulate the data onto specific geographic maps, provide aggregated counts, graphs and other business intelligence around the chain and independent operators. The Restaurant Chain Locator has the ability to overlay current U.S. Census bureau information to further evaluate decisions in comparison with other geo-specific key indicators.

According to the latest figures from CHD Expert’s foodservice database, there are over 227,000 total chain restaurants located in the United States. These 227,000 chain restaurants consist of more than 1,900 unique restaurant brands. Subway leads the way with over 25,000 locations across the United States. McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Burger King round out the top 5 most prevalent U.S. restaurant chains. Chain restaurants are defined as restaurants with more than nine units in operation throughout the US. See Figure 1 for the chain restaurant density heat map by zip code.

Data indicates that chains are more heavily located in major cities, with some zip codes containing more than 55+ different chain restaurants. On the contrary, there are zip codes that contain two chain restaurants or less. Some restaurant chains and foodservice providers might see low density areas as a growth opportunity, while others may want to focus on the more heavily populated zip codes. This depends on the businesses’ strategy.

Executives who are looking to expand or consolidate their restaurants’ locations can use Restaurant Chain Locator to evaluate the market landscape and make strategic decisions. This tool allows restaurant chains to visualize their locations and the footprint of operators around each of their units for competitive intelligence as well as new location placement strategy.

Restaurant Chain Locator features include the ability to: locate competitor establishments, visualize density of independents and chains locations within a given market or segment, view census demographics, and map out the results of their selection. With all the intelligence available in the database, a restaurant chain can now view footprints by segment, menu type, annual sales, #employees and average check, giving them more intelligence around their competitors in any given market.

“The restaurant industry is one of the most dynamic and volatile industries to be involved in,” stated Catherine Kearns General Manager of CHD Expert North America. “Restaurants open and close on a regular basis and when considering expansion it is vital to understand the current market landscape and evaluate from a macro perspective. The insight provided by this tool is a game changer for foodservice professionals who are looking to better understand their competitive landscape.”

To get a free demonstration of Restaurant Chain Locator please contact bbloom(at)chd-expert(dot)com.

CHD Expert is the worldwide leader in collecting, managing, and analyzing data for the Away-from-Home Global Foodservice Market. For more than 10 years, CHD Expert has been dedicated to support Foodservice channel members in providing a global vision and an in-depth understanding of the industry (in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific).

Our objective is to support our clients in their sales and marketing strategies by providing the most comprehensive and accurate foodservice census housing market information for more than 4 million operators worldwide. For more information or learn about all of our products available, please visit CHD-Expert.com.

CHD Expert’s Latest Restaurant DataIndicates That In The Current US Market Landscape, Independent Restaurants Out Number Chain Restaurants Two To One.

Leading foodservice data and analytics company CHD Expert, releases the latest figures around the current United States restaurant landscape and evaluates how independent restaurants stack up against the more widely recognized chain brands. All data in this report is pulled from CHD Expert’s Restaurant Database as of October 2013. Currently in the United States there are 678,691 total restaurants in operation, equating to approximately 1 restaurant for every 467 American citizens*.

While some of the most recognizable global brands are famous American chain restaurants, in the United States the total number of independent restaurants outnumbers chains almost exactly two to one. Currently there are 454,695 total independent restaurants in operation in the United States, whereas there are 224,266 chain restaurants in operation.

Breaking down the states and District of Colombia by their mix of independent restaurants compared to chains, the four states** with the highest percentage of independent restaurants all reside on the North East Coast. New York leads the nation with the highest percentage of independent restaurants with 82.1 percent of the state’s restaurants being independent. This is not surprising, as the five boroughs of New York City, particularly Manhattan, are largely comprised of unique restaurants. After New York is New Jersey with 78.5 percent independent restaurants, followed by Washington DC at 77.6 percent, and then Maine at 76.4 percent.

Considering states with the most independent restaurants by volume, California leads the states with 12.9% of the US Total comprising of over 58,540 total independent restaurants, bringing in almost $30 billion in sales annually to the California economy. New York is second on the list with 40,928 total independent restaurants, followed by Texas with 33,171 then Florida with 29,449. Rounding out the top ten states by independent restaurants are PA, NJ, IL, OH, NC and MA. See figure 1.

The footprint of independent restaurants in QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) and FSR (Full Service Restaurants) is significant. Independent restaurants make up over 90% of the FSR market, whereas in QSR it drops to 43%.

A majority of independent restaurants fall into the full service category. They represent almost 69% of all unique independent restaurants throughout the nation, with retail sales of over $189 billion annually, whereas limited service restaurants sales achieve $$52 billion per year.

“For foodservice professionals who sell their products to restaurants, it is critical to understand the market landscape in your territory”, stated Brad T. Bloom, Director of Sales for CHD Expert North America. “It is a misconception that foodservice manufacturers and distributors need to engage with the large chains to land big sales. Often times the low hanging fruit can be the local independents, who’s decision makers can be much easier to get a hold of and sell to. It is more difficult than ever for sales professionals to engage restaurant owners or decision makers, but with relevant restaurant data, sales professionals can spend more time developing strategies that increase sales and less time researching.”

To obtain more information about CHD Experts findings, or with general questions about foodservice data, please contact Nicolas Watson – nwatson@chd-expert.com

* Based on US Census population clock estimates October 20, 2013
** Washington DC is considered a state for this exercise

Fast food is becoming healthier – at least for one popular fast food chain. With the introduction of ¨Satisfries¨, Burger King is leading the way in what may become a new trend for healthy fast food.

¨Satisfries¨ are a low-calorie version of Burger King´s original fries and contain 40% less fast than fries from McDonald´s. Now people have the option to choose between full-fat fries and healthier ones. What impact will this have on fast food? Are Satisfries the first of many “healthier” fast food options?

Interestingly enough, this is the first time we’ve seen a menu innovation around French Fries. Fast food chains have played around with healthier options in the past, for example grilled chicken wraps or low-calorie salads. What’s brilliant is that Burger King was able to think about a food innovation that satisfies a fried food craving. They aren’t trying to replace fries with apple slices like some other chains. They are looking to capture that satisfying fried food taste that people come to fast food restaurants for. Such menu innovations in the fast food industry may become more common as consumers needs and consumption continue to change.

For some, this will impact where they decide to open their next location. To choose the next best real-estate location, they might want to consider working with a company like CHD Expert. Here at CHD Expert, we help businesses visualize the market landscape by providing them with information on chains headquarters, sub-franchisees, regional offices or even multi-concept operators. CHD Expert can even break down the market landscape do this down to the zip code level and provide a visual aid as to where any restaurant is located within the defined area.

For more information on food service data or chain locator tool, visit CHD Expert. Or reach out to me directly at nwatson@chd-expert.com.